Nail puller



Dec. 27, 1960 s. E. THURMAN NAIL FULLER Filed June 26, 1959 IN VEN TOR. Q60G5 E. TIM/EMA m r 47'701e/VE V5 NAIL PULLER George E. Thurman, Marble Falls, Tex.

Filed June 26, 1959, Ser. No. 823,120

6 Claims. (Cl. 254-26) This invention relates to improvements in devices for pulling nails, spikes, and wires, and the like; and more particularly to novel floating jaws for incorporation in or installation on the claws of nail pulling devices.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a nail pulling device, floating jaws which have opposed edges for biting into opposite sides of embedded or impaled objects to be drawn, and which do not depend, for successful pulling of an object, upon the presence of a head on the object, a jaw-equipped device of the present invention being adapted to be disengaged and engaged successively with progressively lower portions of an object to be drawn, so that even a long object can be drawn in a straight line, normal to the body in which the same is embedded or impaled, so as to avoid bending or otherwise damaging the object.

Another object of the invention is to provide floating jaws of the character indicated above which impose the strains and stresses of pulling operations upon the parts on which they are mounted, such as nail hammer claws, rather than upon the fastening means which hold the jaws in place.

A further object of the invention is to provide jaws of the character indicated, in an arrangement of fastening means and mounting means, so that resistance of the object to being drawn forces the jaws toward each other, so that their gripping edges forcibly engage opposite sides of the object, and, in the case of sharpened gripping edges, bite into opposite sides of the object, the arrangement being such that, in the latter case, the sharpened edges are limited to biting only part way into the object so as to avoid cutting through the object.

A still further object of the invention is to provide inexpensive, efiicient, practical and time-and-labor-saving devices of the character indicated above, which are uncomplex in construction, are composed of simple and easily assembled parts, and which can be easily incorporated or installed in existing pullers, without major mutilation or alteration thereof.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, showing floating jaws of the invention on a puller in the form of a claw hammer, the hammer head and the jaws being shown applied to the surface of a body and to a nail to be pulled or drawn therefrom;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view, showing the jaws removed from the claws of the hammer head;

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical transverse section taken through the claws and related jaws, showing the jaws biting into opposite sides of a nail shank, the jaws being aired States Patent in down tilted and approached relationship produced by upward levering of the hammer head; and

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, showing the jaws uptilted and spread away from each other, out of nail gripping relationship, as a result of downward swinging of the claws out of the positions thereof shown in Figure 4, preparatory to being given a lower purchase on the nail shank.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 generally designates a conventional nailpulling claw hammer, having a handle 12 secured in a hammer head 14 having a body 16 having a peen 18 on one end and a pair of claws 20 on its other end, the claws 20 having upwardly and outwardly angled undersurfaces 22 which extend to chisel points 24, and flat upper surfaces 26 which are substantially horizontal.

It will be understood that other forms of implements, having a pair of relating stationary claws of the general characteristics described above, are contemplated as being within the purview and application of the present invention.

In accordance with the present invention, the claws 20 are altered only to the extent of forming in their upper surfaces 26 and in their laterally inward sides 28, lengthwise extending preferably rectangular and facing recesses 30. The recesses 30 have flat bottom walls 32, which are preferably substantially parallel to the upper surfaces 26, straight side walls 34, and right angular inner and outer end walls 36 and 38, respectively. As seen in Figure 2, the recess side walls 34 diverge outwardly, with respect to each other, at angles substantially similar to the normal outward divergence of the claws 20, outwardly from the hammer head body 16. The recesses 30 extend along the claws 20 from symmetric points near the body 16, as far as points close to and spaces inwardly from the chisel points 24.

Formed in the bottom walls 32, near the ends of the recesses 30, are vertical screw sockets 40 for receiving vertical screws 42, which preferably have enlarged Allentype beads 44.

Engaged in the recesses 30 are similar but reversed jaws 46, each comprising a monolithic, solid elongated bar 48, slightly shorter than recess width, and wider than recess length. The bar 48 is of irregular but uniform polygonal cross section, which provides a flat top surface 50, a flat longitudinal laterally outward edge 52, which is substantially normal to the top surface 50, a flat bottom surface 54, and a flat bevel 56 which extends between and to the laterally inward edge 58 of the bottom surface 54 and the laterally inward edge of the top surface 50. The intersection of the bevel 56 with the top surface 50 defines a sharp or sharpened gripping and biting edge 62, along the length of the inward side of the jaw. The bottom surface 54 is tapered or inclined inwardly from the outer jaw edge 52 to the bevel S6, at an acute angle to the outer edge 52 and the top surface 50.

As seen in Figures 4 and 5, the thickness or vertical dimension of the jaws 20 is preferably substantially the same as the depth of the recesses 30, so that the jaws do not at any time project much above the upper surfaces of the claws 20. As also seen in Figures 4 and 5, the jaws 46 are substantially wider than the recesses 30, to the extent necessary to extend their biting or gripping edges 62 laterally inwardly beyond the inward sides 28' of the claws 20, the recess bottom walls 32 being preferably only slightly wider than the bottom surfaces 54 of the jaws 46.

For loosely accommodating the screws 42, the jaws 46 have therethrough, in locations corresponding to the threaded sockets 40 in the bottom walls of the recesses, relatively large diameter vertical bores 64, which are substantially larger in diameter than the screws 42 but not as large in diameter as the screw heads 44. As seen in Figures 4 and 5, the bores 64 are parallel to the outward edges 52 and normal to the top surfaces 50 of the jaws. The lengths of the screws 42 and the depths of the sockets 40 are proportioned that, with the screws extended downwardly through the bores 64. and threaded home in the sockets 46,, the heads 44 of the screws are spaced slightly above the jaws 46, the arrangement being such that the jaws 46 can move laterally in the recesses 30 and are free to tilt relative to the recesses 30, between the depressed, down-tilted positions shown in Figure 4, and the up-tilted positions shown in Figure 5, wherein further up-tilting of the jaws is designedly prevented by their engagement with the screw heads 44, wherein the undersurfaces 54 of the jaws are spaced from the recess bottom walls 32 at acute angles. In the up-tilted positions of the jaws, the corners 66, defined by the intersections of the outward edges 52 and the bottom surfaces 54 of the jaws, remain engaged with the recess bottom walls 32.

The above described positioning of the jaws 46 in the recesses 30 assures that the gripping edges 62 of the jaws are in an outwardly divergent relationship to each other which substantially corresponds to the divergence of the hammer claws 20.

In use and operation, the hammer head 14 is manipulated to put the chisel ends 24 of the claws 20 under the head 70 of a nail 72 embedded in a body B, such as a wooden body, where the object to be pulled has a head, and the claws then moved so as to cause the nail shank 74 to enter first between the claws 20 and then between the jaws 46, to a distance corresponding to the thickness of the nail shank 74, or until the nail shank becomes engaged with the gripping edges 62.

With the hammer head body 16 bearing upon the surface of the body B, in a fulcrum relation thereon, the handle 12 is then swung, in a clockwise direction in Figure 1, so as to elevate the claws 46 relative to the body B. The engagement of the gripping edges 62 with the nail shank 74, thus produced, is suflicient upon elevation of the claws 20, to tilt the jaws 46 in the recesses 26, from their elevated positions, shown in Figure 4, to then depressed position, shown in Figure 4. The tilting of the jaws is done on their corners 66, which bear, at all times, on the groove bottom walls. The tapered bottom surfaces 54 of the jaws provide no support for the jaws in their elevated positions, other than the engagement of the corners 66 with the bottom walls 32 of the grooves 30. The bottom surfaces 54 are angled so that, in this situation, down-tilting of the jaws 46 is not arrested unless and until their tapered bottom surfaces 54 reach and bear upon the recess bottom walls 32, in which positions of the jaws, the gripping edges 62 are approached, that is, close to each other, so as to bite into the nail shank 74, as shown in Figure 4, with the top surface 50 of the jaws declining toward each other out of the horizontal. The jaws, in their depressed positions, are held in approached, biting relationship by the engagement of their corners 66 with the side walls 34 of the recesses 30, as seen in Figure 4. Biting engagement of the gripping edges 62 produces limited depth cuts or notches 76 in the sides of the nail shank, as seen in Figure 5. The depth of the cuts 76 is positively limited, so as to prevent cutting through of the nail shank, by the engagement of the jaws 46 with the screw heads 44, and by the proper proportioning of the widths of the jaws 46, and of the recesses 30.

To release the jaws 46 from gripping relation to such as a nail shank 74, after having pulled the nail part way out of the body B, by swinging the hammer handle 12, preliminary to taking a lower purchase on the shank 74, the jaws 46 are simply tilted downwardly, so as to produce up-tilting of the jaws 46, as seen in Figure 5. The

jaws 46 are then re-applied, in the manner described above, to the nail shank and another pulling operation performed. Such pulling operations can be repeated as often as necessary or desired, until the nail 72 has been pulled, and, the performance of any number of such operations does not result either in bending the nail or in spreading the nail hole in the body B, but the nail, or other object, comes out of the body B in its original form, except for the slight and inconsequential indentations of the cuts 7 6,

While there has been shown and described herein a preferred form of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

l. A puller comprising a pair of fixed divergent claws having top surfaces and laterally inward sides, recesses formed jointly in said top surfaces and inward sides and extending along the claws, floating jaws conformably and loosely engaged in said recesses, said recess having bottom walls and side walls spaced from the inward sides of the recesses, said jaws having top surfaces, longitudinal outward edges, and bottom surfaces, the top surfaces and outward edges being substantially normal to each other and the bottom surfaces being tapered upwardly and inwardly angles relative to said top surfaces, said jaws being wider than said recesses, bevels extending along the laterally inward sides of the jaws, said bevels reaching between the bottom surfaces and the top surfaces, the intersections of the bevels with the top surfaces defining gripping edges for the jaws which reach inwardly beyond the inward sides of the claws, and means securing the jaws loosely in place in the recesses to shift crosswise of the jaws and to tilt between depressed positions in the recesses wherein the tapered bottom surfaces bear upon the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are closer to each other than in elevated positions wherein the bottom surfaces of the jaws are elevated off the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are farther away from each other, the intersections of the outward edges and the bottom surfaces of the jaws defining corners which bear upon the recess bottom walls and which sometimes bear against the side walls of the recesses.

2. A puller comprising a pair of fixed divergent claws having top surfaces and laterally inward sides, recesses formed jointly in said top surfaces and inward sides and extending along the claws, floating jaws conformably and loosely engaged in said recesses, said recess having bottom walls and side walls spaced from the inward sides of the recesses, said jaws having top surfaces, longitudinal outward edges, and bottom surfaces, the top surfaces and outward edges being substantially normal to each other and the bottom surfaces being tapered upwardly and inwardly angles relative to said top surfaces, said jaws being wider than said recesses, bevels extending along the laterally inward sides of the jaws, said bevels reaching between the bottom surfaces and the top surfaces, the intersections of the bevels with the top surfaces defining gripping edges for the jaws which reach inwardly beyond the inward sides of the claws, and means securing the jaws loosely in place in the recesses to shift crosswise of the jaws and to tilt between depressed positions in the recesses wherein the tapered bottom surfaces bear upon the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are closer to each other than in elevated positions wherein the bottom surfaces of the jaws are elevated off the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are farther away from each other, the intersections of the outward edges and the bottom surfaces of the jaws defining corners which bear upon the recess bottom walls and which sometimes bear against the side walls of the recesses, said securing means comprising vertical bores formed in the jaws at their ends, and elements having shanks smaller in diameter than the bores in the jaws and heads larger in diameter than the bores in the upper ends of the shanks, the shanks extending downwardly through the bores and being fixed at their lower ends to the recess bottom walls.

3. A puller comprising a pair of fixed divergent claws having top surfaces and laterally inward sides, recesses formed jointly in said top surfaces and inward sides and extending along the claws, floating jaws conformably and loosely en aged in said recesses, said recess having bottom walls and side walls spaced from the inward sides of the recesses, said jaws having top surfaces, longitudinal outward edges, and bottom surfaces, the top surfaces and outward edges being substantially normal to each other and the bottom surfaces being tapered upwardly and inwardly angles relative to said top surfaces, said jaws being wider than said recesses, bevels extending along the laterally inward sides of the jaws, said bevels reaching between the bottom surfaces and the top surfaces, the intersections of the bevels with the top surfaces defining gripping edges for the jaws which reach inwardly beyond the inward sides of the claws, and means securing the jaws loosely in place in the recesses to shift crosswise of the jaws and to tilt between depressed positions in the recesses wherein the tapered bottom surfaces bear upon the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are closer to each other than in elevated positions wherein the bottom surfaces of the jaws are elevated off the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are farther away from each other, the intersections of the outward edges and the bottom surfaces of the jaws defining corners which bear upon the recess bottom walls and which sometimes bear against the side walls of the recesses, said securing means comprising vertical bores formed in the jaws at their ends, and elements having shanks smaller in diameter than the bores in the jaws and heads larger in diameter than the bores in the upper ends of the shanks, the shanks extending downwardly through the bores and being fixed at their lower ends to the recess bottom walls, said recess bottom walls being formed with threaded sockets registered with the jaw bores, and said shank threaded into said sockets.

4. A puller comprising a pair of fixed divergent claws having top surfaces and laterally inward sides, recesses formed jointly in said top surfaces and inward sides and extending along the claws, floating jaws conformably and loosely engaged in said recesses, said recess having bottom walls and side walls spaced from the inward sides of the recesses, said jaws having top surfaces, longitudinal outward edges, and bottom surfaces, the top surfaces and outward edges being substantially normal to each other and the bottom surfaces being tapered upwardly and inwardly angles relative to said top surfaces, said jaws being wider than said recesses, bevels extending along the laterally inward sides of the jaws, said bevels reaching between the bottom surfaces and the top surfaces, the intersections of the bevels with the top surfaces defining gripping edges for the jaws which reach inwardly beyond the inward sides of the claws, and means securing the jaws loosely in place in the recesses to shift crosswise of the jaws and to tilt between depressed positions in the recesses wherein the tapered bottom surfaces bear upon the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are closer to each other than in elevated positions wherein the bottom surfaces of the jaws are elevated off the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are farther away from each other, the intersections of the outward edges and the bottom surfaces of the jaws defining corners which bear upon the recess bottom walls and which sometimes bear against the side walls of the recesses,

said securing means comprising vertical bores formed in the jaws at their ends, and elements having shanks smaller in diameter than the bores in the jaws and heads larger in diameter than the bores in the upper ends of the shanks, the shanks extending downwardly through the bores and being fixed at their lower ends to the recess bottom walls, said recess bottom walls being formed with threaded sockets registered with the jaw bores, and said shank threaded into said sockets, said heads being spaced aoove the recess bottom walls at heights to limit downwardly and laterally inward tilting of the jaws and upward tilting of the jaws in the grooves.

5. A puller comprising a pair of fixed divergent claws having top surfaces and laterally inward sides, recesses formed jointly in said top surfaces and inward sides and extending along the claws, floating jaws conformably and loosely engaged in said recesses, said recess having bottom walls and side walls spaced from the inward sides of the recesses, said jaws having top surfaces, longitudinal outward edges, and bottom surfaces, the top surfaces and outward edges being substantially normal to each other and the bottom surfaces being tapered upwardly and inwardly angles relative to said top surfaces, said jaws being wider than said recesses, bevels extending along the laterally inward sides of the jaws, said bevels reaching between the bottom surfaces and the top surfaces, the intersections of the bevels with the top surfaces defining gripping edges for the jaws which reach inwardly beyond the inward sides of the claws, and means securing the jaws loosely in place in the recesses to shift crosswise of the jaws and to tilt between depressed positions in the recesses wherein the tapered bottom surfaces bear upon the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are closer to each other than in elevated positions wherein the bottom surfaces of the jaws are elevated off the recess bottom walls and the gripping edges are farther away from each other, the intersections of the outward edges and the bottom surfaces of the jaws defining corners which bear upon the recess bottom walls and which sometimes bear against the side walls of the recesses, said gripping edges being sharp for biting into opposite sides of an object to be pulled while the jaws are in their depressed positions.

6. A puller comprising a pair of fixed divergent claws having top and bottom surfaces and inward sides, longitudinal recesses formed in the top surfaces and inward sides of the claws, said recesses having bottom walls located in the same plane and sidewalls which are perpendicular to the bottom walls, floating jaws engaged in and extending along the recesses, said jaws having outward sides and inward sides and being substantially the length of the recesses and wider than the recesses and being freely engaged in the recesses, said jaws having vertical bores extending therethrough, and elements having shanks fixed to the recess bottom walls and rising perpendicularly from the bottom walls, said shanks being smaller in diameter than and extended through said bores, said shanks being slightly longer than the thicknesses of the jaws and having enlarged heads on their upper ends above the jaws, said jaws having gripping edges along their inward sides extending from their inward sides to their outward sides and extending laterally beyond the inward sides of the claws, the shanks and bores serving to preclude engagement of the gripping edges of the jaws with each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

